Appalachian State vs USC Upstate 3/15/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The USC Upstate Spartans and the Appalachian State Mountaineers meet in The Basketball Classic first round action from the Holmes Convocation Center on Wednesday night.

The USC Upstate Spartans come into the Basketball Classic after a 14-16 season, including 10-6 mark in Big South conference play. The Spartans took down Charleston Southern in the quarterfinals before falling to eventual conference champion Longwood in the semifinals. Bryson Mozone leads the Spartans in scoring with 15.2 PPG along with 5.5 RPG while Jordan Gainey has 13.4 PPG and 3.9 RPG as the only other double-digit scorer for USC Upstate up to this point in the year. Dalvin White has 9 PPG and a team-high 3.8 APG this season. As a team, USC Upstate is averaging 70.9 PPG on 44.8% shooting from the field, 36.5% from three and 74.1% from the foul line while allowing 73 PPG on 43.7% shooting from the field and 31.7% from three this season.

The Appalachian State Mountaineers come into this one after a 19-12 mark this season, including a 12-6 record in Sun Belt conference play. The Mountaineers took out Georgia Southern in the quarterfinals before falling to eventual conference champion Georgia State in the semi-finals. Adrian Delph leads App State in scoring with 17.3 PPG with 5.5 RPG while Donovan Gregory has 10.5 PPG with 5.6 RPG and Michael Almonacy has 10.2 PPG with a team-high 3.1 APG to lead the Mountaineers in assists and to make up the group of double-digit scorers for App State so far this season. Justin Forrest also has 9.1 PPG while James Lewis Jr. leads the Mountaineers on the glass with 6.1 RPG as well this season. As a team, Appalachian State is averaging 66.7 PPG on 41.7% shooting from the field, 32.6% from three and 65.7% from the foul line while allowing 62.4 PPG on 42% shooting from the field and 29.8% from three this season.

I get the case to be made for both sides here, but ultimately, I’m going with App State at home here. The Mountaineers are just the better team from the better conference hera and while USC Upstate had some solid showings, I look for App State to be too much on their home floor where they were 11-4 this season. Give me the Mountaineers.